Often described as an early precursor to GTA 3, Urban Chaos has one play as a young female cop tasked with fighting crime. While the game takes place in a large open city, it is mission-based, so you don't get to traverse the entire city at any point. The basic gameplay loop consists of going somewhere and either killing or arresting bad guys. Occasionally, you also get to drive around, but since the cars control horribly, you'll be glad to be on foot.
Unfortunately, the game is marred by a plethora of issues and weird design choices. For instance, there is no music in the game, except when sprinting. Why does music play only when you sprint, and why is it always the same track? Then there is a mechanic where every 20 seconds, a mugger will get spawned and seek out your location to beat you up. Why? Unclear, and it is simply annoying having to deal with dudes that track you relentlessly even across roofs all the time.
Speaking of roofs, instead of pursuing mission objectives you'll often find yourself going across roofs to find powerups, which are hidden all across town. These provide permanent stat boosts, which you definitely need to survive against the tougher foes. The problem is that the controls are clunky and imprecise, making these jumping parts more annoying than anything. And to add insult to injury, you cannot save during missions. More often than not, you'll be picking up stuff and fending off muggers for ten minutes only to die during the actual mission, requiring one to restart the entire level. Not fun.
The game has a certain charm to it, and I like both the setting and the colorful graphics, but my patience was wearing thin rather quickly with all the design flaws the game has. Add the fact that graphical issues such as missing textures are frequent, and you'll quickly wish to be playing something else instead.
